Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2004

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS)

First Advisor

Ronghua Shan

Second Advisor

Zehai Zhou

Third Advisor

William Figg

Fourth Advisor

Terry Dennis

Abstract

The following paper outlines in detail the steps taken to create an online forum using PHP and MySQL, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the MSIS degree at Dakota State University. This includes a brief introduction to the project and its intent; a statement of the problem that was meant to be addressed by the project; the objectives to be accomplished by the project, including deliverables; the scope of the project, including details of how the system was built; and appendices containing the original project plan and the source code for the system. The project scope is a detailed explanation of how the system was constructed, how users interact with it, and why specific decisions were made in the system construction. The system consists primarily of two distinct means of interaction, the forums and the administrative functions. The two areas are separated by use of user security levels assigned to each unique user. The project was completed essentially according to plan and the system behaves in a manner consistent with the objectives. The design is robust and extensible and the system is as secure as was intended from the planning stages. The experience of building the system was quite rewarding and I believe I was able to use many of the skills that I have acquired in my time at DSU. Future expansion of the system is possible given the current architecture and several possible development tasks are outlined at the end of the paper. In this way, the project can be considered somewhat ongoing. Future development could create a viable commercial product, if time and the market allow.

Comments

dsu-th-054

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